MISCELLANY. 
49 
native birds without moulting a feather. I propose to term this their sum¬ 
mer and winter aspect , as opposed to their summer and winter plumage , 
which latter expression should be limited to actual change of feather, as 
in the Pipits, Pied Flycatcher, &c. One of the birds I send you was 
shot in summer before moulting, the other in autumn, after its autumnal 
change; the spring aspect is of course intermediate. The same change is exhi¬ 
bited in all the other Chats, in the Redstarts, Fantails, Larks, and in the other 
Buntings and Fringillidce (or birds of the Finch family) ; in short, I think I 
may say in all our native Fringillidous species, with the exception of the Haw 
Grosbeak. The Siskin shews it very remarkably. Yet this wearing off of the 
extreme edgings of the feathers has almost escaped the observation of our natu¬ 
ralists ! Observe the difference in the larger feathers; you will find this to be a 
capital test of whether an Insessorial bird moults once or twice in the year, and 
you will perceive from this that the Grey Flycatcher moults but once, and the 
Pied species twice—a fact which I have otherwise ascertained. The Shrikes 
also moult twice in the year.— Edward Blyth, Tooting , Surrey , April 6, 1836> 
in a letter to Neville Wood , Esq. 
Haunts of the Darklegged Warbler ( Sylvia loquax , Herbert). —In 
riding over a considerable extent of country the other day, I noticed that the 
Darklegged Warbler is rather more an upland bird than its musical congener the 
Willow Warbler; for I observed that on the hills the former very much predo¬ 
minated, while the latter was considerably more abundant in the vallies—a fact 
which I never remember to have noticed before.— Edward Blyth, Tooting , 
Surrey , April 21, 1836, in a letter to Neville Wood , Esq. [We think this cir¬ 
cumstance requires further confirmation before it can be considered a fact.— Ed.] 
The Land Crab of Jamaica. —This species of Crab ( Cancer ruricola ), 
at one time very abundant, and still common in less densely peopled or 
uninhabited islands, is found inhabiting holes upon the highest hills and 
mountains in the West Indies. When the season for spawning arrives, 
vast armies of them set out from the hills, marching in a direct line to¬ 
wards the sea-shore, for the purpose of depositing their eggs in the sand. 
On this grand expedition nothing is allowed to turn them from their 
course. With unyielding perseverance they surmount every obstacle which may 
intervene, whether a house, rock, or any other body, not avoiding the labour of 
climbing by going round, but ascending and passing over it in a straight line. 
Having reached the destined limit of their journey, they deposit their eggs in the 
sand, and recommence their toilsome march towards their upland retreats. They 
set out after nightfall, and steadily advance, until the advance of daylight warns 
them to seek concealment in the inequalities of the ground, or among any kind 
of rubbish, where they lie ensconced until the stars again invite them to pursue 
vol. hi.—NO. XVI. 
H 
